You slither into bed after a long day of classes and assignments and start to drift off; at last you can finally get a solid seven hours of sleep if you’re lucky. As your mind wanders to a happy place that doesn’t include copious assignments and dragged-on classes, your thoughts come to a halt.

You forgot to complete your online assignments.

Now you’re wide-awake and dashing for your computer. You log onto Moodle and see that you missed the deadline to an assignment and you don’t know why you agreed to take classes online.

There are positive and negatives when it comes to traditional classes and online classes. Throughout my college career I’ve taken four online classes, each one challenging and beneficial.

According to a University Of The Potomac study, there are 6,700,000 students enrolled in online courses and 77 percent of educators believe that online learning is just as good as traditional learning, if not better.

Nearly 70 percent of all students claim online instruction to be as good as or better than in a traditional classroom setting and 26 percent of online students claim to learn better online than in a classroom, according to the study.

Online classes have their perks, but you get a better learning experience and gain more knowledge in the classroom.  In the classroom, you get that one-on-one experience and guidance from an instructor whereas online classes are self-driven.

In an online classroom experience, you don’t have reminders from professors that an assignment is due; it’s up to you to meet deadlines. I’ve missed deadlines, handed in assignments late, and wished I could reach out to the professor like one can in a classroom environment.

In certain situations, I’d say online classes are more useful than traditional classrooms. If someone is employed, has children, or has a limited amount of time, then online classes are probably fitting.

            The formats of online classes differ from traditional classrooms immensely and they can be unorganized and sometimes questionable.

Castleton students can also take online classes through the Community College of Vermont. I’m currently taking two classes through CCV, and I secretly don’t know what I’m doing.

The science class I’m taking is organized in such a frenzied manner. It’s some point system labeled from the letters in the alphabet. Like “post a forum for D2 and get this amount of points.” The whole concept is foreign to me.

I’ve found that in the online classes I’ve taken, my professors aren’t used to the structure of an online class. They just plaster assignments on Moodle with little to no guidance. Videos should be uploaded and we should use technology to make online classes more advanced and accommodating.

Online classes might save the trip to class, but I’d rather get up, get dressed, and walk five minutes than scroll through Moodle in a confused daze because my online classes lack the tools I need to succeed. I’ve been successful in online classes and they’re a great advancement, but it’s all about personal preference. Learning should be communicative and expressive, and the traditional setting allows me to do that.